From Keith_M._Danby%MAGI–(at)–agic.ca Tue Oct 4 22:45:42 CDT 1994
Article: 25387 of alt.guitar
Path: geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!uunet.ca!uunet.ca!dmog10.bell.ca!news.sygma.net!magic!Keith_M._Danby
From: Keith_M._Danby%MAGI–(at)–agic.ca (Keith M. Danby)
Reply-To: Keith_M._Danby%MAGI–(at)–agic.ca
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Distribution: world
Subject: Re: How old is my Guitar amp?
Date: 04 Oct 1994 01:57:09 GMT
Message-ID: <1900933118.982563--(at)--agic.ca>
Organization: Magic Online Services Toronto Inc.
Lines: 42

Dating Pre-CBS Fender Amplifiers

Fender amps made after 1953 had a date code stamped on the tube chart located
on the inside of the cabinet of self-contained amps and inside the amp head
on piggy-back models. Sometimes the factory stamped the tube chart code onto
the amp chassis too. Look for two small letters in rubber-stamped ink but be
sure not to confuse the date code with the production number, the model
number, or the serial number.

The first letter indicates the year of manufacture, starting with “A” = 1951,
through to “O” = 1965. The second letter is the month of manufacture,
starting with “A” = January, through to “L” = December. For some odd reason,
“G” is not included in the month coding.

Example:
If your amp has an ink-stamped code of “GD”, is would have been manufactured
April, 1957

Fender had another date code system for early-60’s speakers and amp chassis.
If the speaker is a Jensen (most pre-CBS Fenders used either Jenson or Oxford
speakers), the code stamped onto the speaker would start with 220 (Jensen’s
company code) and then followed by a three digit code. The first digit after
Jenson’s company code indicates the year of manufacture starting 1951. The
second two digits indicated the week of manufacture. So a speaker stamped
220122 would indicate it’s manufacture of the 22nd week of 1951.

If the speaker is an Oxford (Fender used Jenson and Oxford speakers for
Pre-CBS amps), Oxford company code was 465 and the last three digits were
coded in the same way as the Jensons.

One thing to keep in mind is that both companies repeated the same numbering
every decade. So you’d have to guess whether the speaker was made in 1951 or
1961. A “2” (manufacture in 1952) could mean the speaker was made in 1952 or
1962.

Fender also used another code system for early-60’s speakers amp chassis too.
You may see something like “AB 0763” on a speaker. It’s easy to see that
this would be the 7th week of 1963.

Speakers are more confusing to date than the amps. Also, the speaker date
should be earlier than the amp date. If not, that tells you that the speaker
may not be the original.